PRESS DIGEST-Canada-Nov 26

Nov 26 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

* Toronto Mayor Rob Ford facilitated a meeting between city water officials and a cosmetics company that was under investigation for alleged problems with its sewage discharge — a company with which the Ford family has had a relationship through its label business, Deco Labels and Tags. ()

* Saskatchewan is covering cancer-care costs for an ailing refugee as Canada’s prairie province offers a distinctly different vision for how the country should treat those who come here from afar, many of them needed to buttress the West’s rapidly expanding economy. ()

Reports in the business section:

* The world’s highest profile environmental legal battle, which pits U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp against a group of Ecuadorean villagers over decades of oil pollution in the Amazon, is set to make its Canadian courtroom debut this week. The tangled and undeniably bitter 19-year court fight resulted in a staggering $18.3 billion judgment from an Ecuadorean court against Chevron last year. ()

* Canada is preparing to revive long-stalled free trade talks with South Korea as the federal government shifts its negotiating focus from Europe to fast-growing Asia. ()

NATIONAL POST

* Justin Trudeau’s two-year-old mental wardrobe malfunction, in which he said Canada suffers from having Albertans in charge and asserts that Quebecers make the best prime ministers, may well cost the Liberals the by-election prize of Calgary Centre, whose residents go to the polls Monday. At last count, polls were within the statistical margin of error, with Conservative Joan Crockatt holding a small lead. ()

FINANCIAL POST

* Swiss prosecutors have reportedly indicted a former top executive of Canadian engineering and construction giant SNC Lavalin Group Inc, alleging he helped launder millions of dollars used to win contracts in Libya and other North African countries. Riadh Ben Aissa, a former vice president at the Montreal-based company who has been detained since the spring, is now facing charges related to his role in an alleged scheme connected to C$139 million ($140.02 million) in payments made by SNC Lavalin, Swiss broadcaster RTS and CBC News reported. ()

* The biggest Black Friday to date in Canada swept across the country with a flurry of before sunrise store openings and door-crasher deals at shopping malls and online retailers. What was once a strictly U.S. phenomenon on the days following U.S. Thanksgiving has been embraced by Canadian retailers eager to keep consumer shopping dollars on their home turf. ()